Media Watch

Media: Sterling tipped end-of-season awards

MEDIA WATCH: Raheem Sterling has been in sensational form this season

Raheem Sterling is being tipped to win a prestigious individual prize, Manchester City are one pundit’s favourites for the title and have the Blues unearthed another midfield starlet?

It’s a jam-packed Media Watch this morning!

Let's start with Sterling.

Richard Dunne is the latest pundit to heap praise on the in-form forward, with the former Blues defender, now a BT Sport pundit, touting him for the PFA Player of the Year award.

Sterling has scored 19 goals and added a further 11 assists already this term and Dunne believes he’s a player who excites.

“As fans and supporters of football you want to see players going forward, you want to see people that entertain you, score goals and certainly Sterling has done that,” he said.

“If you’re looking at attacking players, I don’t think anyone has been better than Sterling with what he brings to the team with his speed, and he’s using his intelligence to get into the right positions.

“In terms of effect on a team van Dijk has had that more than most, but for entertainment, skill, technique and getting people off their seats Sterling is ahead of him.

“What I love about him is that he keeps progressing and just gets better and better.”

Highlights

Match highlights: Reading Women 3-4 City

The Sky Sports pundits have predicted the final placings at the top of the Premier League come the end of the season – and Matt Le Tissier says City will finish top of the pile.

“I have stuck with Manchester City all the way through, even when they were seven points behind,” he says. “They have a stronger squad with eight games to go and less troubling games ahead. Liverpool will chase them down and it will be close, closer than I expected at the start of the season - it may even go down to the last game of the season but I think City will just pip it.

And Joe Bray, writing in the Manchester Evening News, says City youngster Tommy Doyle has a big future after his impressive display in Thursday’s Premier League Cup final.

Bray says Phil Foden’s rise provides Doyle with the blueprint for success, and highlighted his passing quality as reason for City fans to get excited.

“While Nmecha was the match-winner, another player stood out for City - midfielder Tommy Doyle,” he writes.

“Doyle certainly has the pedigree to follow in Foden's footsteps to the first team squad as the grandson of City legends Mike Doyle and Glyn Pardoe.

“But pedigree only gets you so far, and Doyle showed his potential at the Riverside as the deep-lying midfielder was central to everything City tried to do.

“In a cagey first half, Doyle was continuously marshalling his teammates and moving play along nicely. When Middlesbrough were threatening as the game wore on, he relieved pressure time after time with clever play and promising positional awareness.

“It was Doyle who was dictating when City were to slow the game down, and his drives forward were a signal to his teammates to join him on the attack.

“Some passes may have gone astray, but his performance was worthy of the man of the match award and was summed up in the third minute of second half injury time.”

That’s all for this morning’s Media Watch – but stay with us throughout the day as we bring you full coverage of the Champions League draw and all the buildup ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final tie at Swansea.